Coffee Lab

Overview

Isabela Raposeiras — flamenco dancer, English teacher, airplane pilot, Q grader and Brazil's first National Barista Champion (2002) — opened Coffee Lab in São Paulo's Vila Madalena in 2009 after seven years of consulting for Brazilian coffee businesses, and went on to represent Brazil at the World Barista Championship in Oslo that same first year. The Lab is a combined roastery, cafe, barista school and consultancy with two Diedrich roasters in the middle of the service tables and staff in mechanic-style jumpsuits; the foxtail logo plays on raposa, Portuguese for fox, after Raposeiras's own surname.

Known for

• Brazil's first National Barista Champion as founder; recognized as the most awarded specialty cafe in Brazil
• Two Diedrich roasters set into the service space; baristas in colorful mechanic jumpsuits
• Influential advocate of the AeroPress brewing method in Brazil and an early force separating green beans from their bags for storage
• Combined roastery, four-classroom barista school and consultancy under one roof
• Pays Brazilian producers $6–10 per pound and travels internationally to introduce foreign roasters to Brazilian micro-lots

Why it matters

Coffee Lab is the most internationally recognized Brazilian specialty roastery, and Raposeiras is the figure most credited with reframing Brazil — long shorthand for commodity volume — as a producer of complex, region-distinctive specialty coffee. Tim Wendelboe has publicly credited her with introducing him to high-acidity Espírito Santo lots, and her education program has trained much of the current Brazilian barista circuit.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

Isabela Raposeiras

color sorting

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roaster machine

Two Diedrich roasters (in-cafe)

filter equipment

AeroPress, Clever, Chemex, V60

cupping frequency

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roastery location

Rua Fradique Coutinho, 1340, Vila Madalena, São Paulo

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

Rua Fradique Coutinho, 1340, Vila Madalena, São Paulo - SP, 05416-001

Recognitions

• Brazilian National Barista Champion 2002 (Isabela Raposeiras, also represented Brazil at WBC Oslo 2002)
• Recognized as the most awarded specialty cafe in Brazil
• SCAA apprentice judge for Cup of Excellence

Sources

• https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g303631-d2351799-Reviews-Coffee_Lab-Sao_Paulo_State_of_Sao_Paulo.html
• https://mindtrip.ai/restaurant/sao-paulo-state/coffee-lab/re-GeNA0xAA
• https://stir-tea-coffee.com/features/contemporary-coffee-pioneer/
• https://sprudge.com/an-interview-with-brazilian-coffee-pioneer-isabela-raposeiras-117765.html
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-lab
• https://www.localspecialtycoffee.com/specialty-coffee-place/coffee-lab-sao-paulo
• https://www.lonelyplanet.com/brazil/sao-paulo/pinheiros-vila-madalena-around/nightlife/coffee-lab/a/poi-dri/1335204/1342425